The election & Social Security’s future - AMAC & CNBC
Lorie Konish of CNBC says Social Security is on the ballot this fall. She explains the various bills in Congress on both sides of the aisle. Democrats are championing tax increases and Republicans have suggested raising the retirement age over time, as was done that last time a reform effort took shape in 1983. Some bipartisan porposals are afloat to change WEP and GPO rules for those receiving public pensions and also to adjust income tax brackets where taxes on benefits begin. Konish quotes expert Charles Blahous of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, who notes the size of the upcoming shortfall is too big to be left to either a tax increase or a benefit cut. Both will have to be included in any reform. Full article here.
As an example of the leading thoughts on reforming Social Security, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC, Inc.) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved without tax increases by slight modifications to cost of living adjustments and payments to high income beneficiaries plus gradually increasing the full (but not early) retirement age. AMAC Action, AMAC’s advocacy arm, supports an increase in the threshold where benefits are taxed and then indexing for inflation, and calls for eliminating the reduction in people’s benefits for those choosing to work before full retirement age. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with many congressional offices and staff over the past decade.